John 2:10 “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
Jesus turned water into wine...and it was the "best". At weddings they drank wine, not juice. Do you know why the host said what he did about everyone bringing out the choice wine first? Because once their guests get drunk they don't notice that the stuff they bring out later is lower quality. Not that people should be getting drunk, that's the explanation for why the host said what he did. So we know that actual wine was used at the wedding.
Jesus turned water into actual wine.
... continued ...
Did not the "governor of the feast" declare that the "wine" that Jesus made was the "best" by saying "...Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: [but] thou hast kept the good wine until now.", and does not this mean it was of perfect alcoholic content, and perfectly 'aged'?
Those are two separate questions, of which the answer to the First is
"Yes, it was the best 'wine'."
and the answer to the Second is
"No, it had nothing to do with an 'aged' alcholic 'wine'."
What do the scriptures mean then? Consider that the preservation methods of that time period were not perfect, and any "wine" [Grape Juice] that was held/preserved for long periods of time would lose its flavor and be syrupy and have to have water added to make it more palatable, and therefore, in any given celebration, that which was usually done, is to serve the most freshest juice of the grape at the beginning, anything that had been closer to the most recent harvest, and afterwards they would serve that which was sitting longer in preservation. In this case, it was reversed.
However, Jesus instead, being the Creator (the Son; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:1-3; John 1:1-3; 1 John 1:1-3; Ephesians 3:9; Proverbs 8:22-36, etc) Himself, turns the water, into the perfect juice of the grape, as if it were freshly harvested [for He doth not need to first plant a seed and wait until it grows, for like Adam, He can bring it to full and perfect unblemished fruition instantly, for He speaks and it is so].
It was the very symbol and perfect gift of His own life (blood; Deuteronomy 32:14) and doctrine, for His Bride.
People that read backwards into the text their own preconceived ideas about what the 'best wine [alcoholic]', they [incorrectly] think, is today, being some 'aged' bottle of corruption and dissipation, make a serious error in so doing. Additionally, the word for "good", is the from Greek "Kalos", meaning "honourable, noble, praiseworthy,
morally good, etc" [Strong's Concordance for that need this]
Are we to [wrongly] suppose that Christ Jesus, made
tens to hundreds of gallons of alcohol to consume at a wedding feast, a place of celebration, blessing, rejoicing and joy, being not one of drunkenness, cursing, licentiousness and revelry? It is a wedding, not a debauche.
Notice that the event was a Wedding. Now in the Bible, a Wedding was not a place for getting intoxicated, but rather was a joyous celebration and new life together.
This [marriage] event is a symbol of the very pure Wedding of Christ Jesus to His own Church Bride, in fact the entire Second Advent is in the context of a Wedding, and even utilizes that language in numerous places.
Jesus, called the “Bridegroom” by John the Baptist, comes to see His Betrothed [Church], then after many events, He ascends and goes to “prepare a place” for “her” [He ascends to Heaven], just as the Bridegroom would go back to the Father's house [where there are many Mansions] and prepare one of the rooms [a place in New Jerusalem], and would then after a time when all is ready, and in the timing of the Father, He would then “come again” and “receive” “her” unto himself in the Wedding [Jesus Second Advent].
Notice, that where it was asked for wine in the Gospels at the Wedding of Cana, the wedding had
already taken place. This then would point to the time when we will actually be with Jesus Christ, and He would drink it with us "new" (Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25) in the Kingdom.
Jesus then goes to where there are “six” waterpots of stone which contained “two or three firkins apiece”. That is actually a little less than 9 English Gallons or 40 Litres for each Firkin, est.
That is a tremendous amount of “wine” (already on top of that which they claim they already drank or finished (which the opponents to wisdom say is fermented!!!)), and if any of that were actually fermented [alcoholic], then Jesus just advocated liscentiousness, dissipation and revelry, which of course would be sin - for remember they had already consumed all of the previous amount, but since it was the juice of the Grape, given for Celebration, it was the perfect gift, and symbol and represtnation of His own selflessness, His own Blood, and His own Doctrine.
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Habakkuk 2:5
"Thou art filled with shame for glory..." [Habakkuk 2:6;p]
Jesus is the pure vine [John 15:5], and so then He is the 7th Jar, that vessel of the pure, which eternally pours forth and from which all blessings flow, and so He pours into the 6 other empty jars. His “doctrine” is Pure and His “Wine” is pure, just as He is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" [Hebrews 7:26], unfermented, and fills us, bringing great joy.
For in Scripture, “wine” is a symbol for “doctrine”, whether Pure or Corrupted, and fermented "wine" always represented sin, apostacy, corruption, cursing, and the unfermented [pure juice of the grape, "...thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape." Deuteronomy 32:14, see also Genesis 49:11] representing joy, life, newness, blessing.
Fermented grape [alcoholic content], represented sin, wickedness, rebellion, and corrupted doctrines:
The Wine of the wrath of her fornication is not just 'false doctrine', though it includes it.
Pro. 20:1; Isa. 5:20-22, 28:1,7-13, 29:9-13;
(Leaven, fermentation)
Mat. 16:5-12; Mar. 8:14-21; Luk. 12:1; Gal. 5:9
Isa. 51:21; Dan. 5:1-4,23; Hos. 4:11-12; Amo. 2:8; Mic. 2:11;
Mat. 9:17; Mar. 2:22; Luk. 5:37-39; Act. 2:4,13; Eph 5:18 (filled with false, unclean spirits of riot and excess, but with the Holy Spirit of God); Rev. 14:8, 17:2, 18:3; Jer. 51:7
Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Jeremiah 51:7
Notice that fermented wine causes madness and drunkenness, and symbolizes false doctrines and hypocrisy which lead to false ideologies, practices and ways.
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Revelation 14:8
Jesus also spoke of the corrupt spiritual Leaven [fermentation]:
Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Matthew 16:6
Then understood they how that he bade [them] not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Matthew 16:12
And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and [of] the leaven of Herod. Mark 8:15
In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Luke 12:1
… and even by Paul, "
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:" 1 Corinthians 5:7, did we notice again the context of Passover and no leavening? For it represented primarily sin, and Christ is sinless, as we are to be in Him.
It's amazing that people, dressed in fair clothes and claiming to represent God, are still calling Jesus a winebibber (alcoholic imbiber) today.
